WATCH: Man dragged off plane after Ebola joke

Owen Jacques is an award-winning investigative journalist from Mackay, now based on the Sunshine Coast as APN Australian Regional Media’s Online News Editor. He has a strong background reporting on politics, business and breaking news. Owen has also specialised in resources reporting, which included a successful campaign to fight 100% fly-in, fly-out mining in rural Queensland towns.

THOSE little warnings signs are right, they do take jokes very seriously around aircrafts.

Footage has popped upon YouTube showing a team in Hazmat suits boarding a plane full of American travellers after it landed in the Dominican Republic town of Punta Cana.

An unimpressed man is eventually marched from his seat and out the front door of the aircraft.

According to the creator using the name "Patrick Narvaez" on YouTube, those on board were told of "a situation", that a passenger may have recently been to Africa and contracted the potentially-deadly Ebola virus.

"She was certain it was a hoax but they did not take any chances and had a full hazmat crew board the plane and take the passenger off," he wrote in the description of the video.

"It was later confirmed that the passenger was never in Africa and after 2hrs we were finally able to get off the plane."

According to the person who posted it to news-sharing site Reddit, the man sneezed on the plane then jokingly yelled "Sorry I came from Africa".

The UK Independent reports Dominican authorities were satisfied the passenger had been making a silly joke, and that he did not have Ebola.

Paola Rainieri, a communications executive at Grupo Punta Cana which owns the airport, told The Independent the comment was a "joke of poor taste".

She said: "We don't know why he did it, but he thought it would be a cute joke that would not be so serious. Thankfully it was only a scare."

The Independent reported the man had said, "I have Ebola! You are all screwed."